Super Easy Pita Bread

The Recipe

Makes: 10 x pieces (100g)
Preparation: 40 minutes
Baking Time: 5-8 minutes

Pita bread is not what it was many years ago. It began as a flat bread without any leavener and eventually morphed into a puffy round piece of goodness.

Pita bread is a wonderfully versatile simple bread. You can stuff them with meatballs, salads, or felafels, dip them into a dip such as hummus or simply eat them on their own (preferably warm).

Pita bread is not what it was many years ago. It began as a flat bread without any leavener and eventually morphed into a puffy round piece of goodness.

Its roots are found in the middle east and the Mediterranean. If you want to learn more about bread check this out, or simply go ahead and bake some pita! It will last for a week and is also easy to freeze and defrost when you need it.

Make sure you use good flour that is unrefined and unbleached - you won’t regret it.

INGREDIENTS

400mls warm water
10g instant yeast
2tsp white caster sugar

900g strong bread flour (you can also do 50/50 with wholemeal)
2tsp fine sea salt
2tbsp extra virgin olive oil

METHOD

1. Add 300mls of warm water to the yeast and sugar. Stir a little and allow until the mixture becomes a little frothy

2. Add the oil to the water/yeast mixture and have the remaining 100mls of water on standby

3. Mix salt and flour together

4. With a dough hook on your mixer, combine the water/yeast mixture and the dry ingredients until it comes together. Add a little extra water if needed.

5. Mix until the dough is smooth and supple.

6. Place the dough into a well-oiled bowl and cover it with cling film, a clean shower cap, or a damp tea towel until it has doubled in size.

7. Weigh out 100g pieces and place them on a floured tray, covered for 20-30 minutes.

8. In an oven preheated at 220°C, bake for 5-8 minutes until brown and a little puffy.

9. Stuff with your favourite fillings and enjoy. If you bake too many you can always freeze them for another day.

English Tea Scones for Merienda

The Recipe

Makes: 12 x 50g scones
Preparation: 10 minutes
Baking Time: 12-15 minutes

The perfect cream scones for afternoon tea - clotted cream and strawberry jam is a must!

We all know about the age old tradition of afternoon tea in the United Kingdom.. consisting of cream scones, cute little crustless sandwiches and loose leaf tea... It is a tradition that was common amongst the upper-class societies in the 1800s and was a light meal, served between 4 and 6.

The tradition of this afternoon tea today is prevalent throughout the world with hotels and established restaurants offering this in-between meal that can be most opulent.

It is also a big tradition in Argentina, which is a reminder of the migration of British citizens to the country between 1837-1901. This was the Victorian Era when Argentina had gained independence from Spain and at the time it was an informal empire of the United Kingdom due to economic influences.

The immigrants to Buenos Aires in particular were industrialists and potential landowners who established their cultures with sports clubs (Cordoba Athletics Club, The Hurlingham Club), Harrods in 1912, and afternoon tea, known as Merienda consisting of baked goods, mate (an infusion of ground leaves and stems from the yerba mate shrub), coffee and always, always, dulce de leche.

A super easy recipe for these traditional scones (Skones or Skons, however, you want to pronounce it).

Enjoy crumbling in the flour and butter between your fingertips (my favourite bit), and of course.. eating them!

INGREDIENTS

260g plain flour
Pinch of fine sea salt
30g caster sugar
15g baking powder
120g unsalted butter, cubed
110g cream
1 Egg yolk (brushing on top)

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 200’C

2. Whisk the flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder

3. Rub in the cold butter to coarse breadcrumb consistency

4. Stir through the cream until the dough comes together

5. Cut/shape the scones into 50g pieces. It should be about 2.5cm thick before baking. If you don't want to weigh the scones - that's fine with me. You can even use cookie cutters to create different shapes if your heart desires so.

6. When shaped, place onto a lined tray and brush with egg yolk. Bake for 12-18 minutes until golden brown. Cool on the tray for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack

7. It is most important to eat scones slightly warmed, with clotted (or thick double) cream and always good strawberry jam.

Banana Bread with Pecans

The Recipe

Makes: 1 loaf
Preparation: 10 minutes
Baking Time: 50-60 minutes

Despite the tradition of Australians grabbing a coffee and a slice of banana bread - the origins of this simple quick bread (chemically leavened) have its roots in late 18th Century America where pearlash was discovered - and later on, baking powder was used in the mid-19th Century. It is an easy bread to make so please try it!!

Whenever I touch down in Australia - I have to get my hands on a thick slice of banana bread that is well toasted and slathered in good salted butter. No matter how hard I try I can never replicate the giant loaves that are made in the factory that are dense and light all at the same time. But let’s just say this is a gourmet loaf and kills the craving when in need of banana bread while I’m in Singapore.

Despite the tradition of Australians grabbing a coffee and a slice of banana bread - the origins of this simple quick bread (chemical leavened) has it’s roots in late 18th Century America where pearlash was discovered - and later on baking powder was used in the mid 19th Century. It is an easy bread to make so please try it!!

INGREDIENTS

150g plain flour
100g wholemeal flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
70g white caster sugar
70g brown sugar
½ tsp sea salt
2-3 very ripe bananas (about 280g)
2 medium eggs
50g unsalted butter, melted
100g plain Greek yoghurt

100g pecans, roughly chopped
3 tblsp golden syrup (or honey)
40g salted butter

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180’C and line a loaf pan with baking paper and butter

2. Mix all the dry ingredients together

3. Mash up the bananas and mix in eggs, yoghurt and butter

4. Add the wet to the dry ingredients and mix well.

5. Pour the mixture into the loaf pan and sprinkle over the pecans

6. Bake in the oven for 50-60 minutes. Insert a knife into the centre of the loaf, it should come out clean if it is cooked

7. While the cake is still hot, melt the golden syrup and butter together then pour over the cake.

8. Allow the cake to sit for 10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack

9. Slice and toast with lashings of butter.

Chocolate Glazed Doughnuts - and a Vanilla Milkshake

The Recipe

Makes: 16 x 60g doughnuts
Preparation: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Baroness Elizabeth Dimsdale who was the wife of Baron Thomas Dimsdale, a smallpox pioneer, compiled a recipe book in the 1800s containing a recipe by a local cook that made 'dow nuts' which were pieces of dough cut into the size of nuts, fried in pork lard.

Despite doughnuts being a modern-day American symbol of gooey, sweet goodness that can be eaten at any time of the day, the humble doughnut finds its origins not from the Dutch but from a home cook residing in Hertfordhire, England.

Baroness Elizabeth Dimsdale who was the wife of Baron Thomas Dimsdale, a smallpox pioneer, compiled a recipe book in the 1800s containing a recipe by a local cook that made 'dow nuts' which were pieces of dough cut into the size of nuts, fried in pork lard.

Before the 1800's there is also evidence that of variation of doughnuts were dabbled with, excluding eggs. The Romans ad Greeks used to fry pastry dough and drizzle it with honey or syrup and the Germans used to stuff the doughnuts with savoury ingredients at a time when sugar was scarce.

It is said that the Dutch Immigrants brought their 'oliekoeks' (oily cakes) to Manhattan (New Amsterdam) in the early 1800's. In the mid-1800's, Elizabeth Gregory, mother to a New England ship captain made fried dough for her son and crew for their long voyages. Her son claim that it was his invention of the whole inside the doughnut, but nobody really knows.

Either way, doughnuts evolved into an American staple, so much so, they were eaten by the troops in France during the first World War. Doughnuts were big in the states and mass production of these fried doughy sweets began when Adolph Levitt, a Russian refugee inveted the first doughnut machine in the 1920's.

The wholly sweet dough is an indulgent snack and breakfast.... I upped the indulgence scale by throwing in a vanilla bean milkshake... I hope you enjoy making these doughnuts as much as I did and learned a little bit of food history on the way!

INGREDIENTS

DOUGHNUTS
14g instant yeast
60mls warm water
325 mls milk (don't even think about using light milk)
2 medium eggs (they should be around 50g-55g each)
100g fine caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
70g unsalted butter (melted)
625g plain flour
oil for deep frying

CHOCOLATE GLAZE
200g unsalted butter
40g good cocoa powder
100g icing sugar
70g milk

METHOD

1. In a mixing bowl, sprinkle yeast over water and allow to stand for 5 minutes

2. With the paddle beater attachment, add the sugar, milk, salt, eggs, and half the flour. Once the ingredients are incorporated, mix in the melted butter and the rest of the flour.

3. Knead the dough with dough hook or if you feel like a workout, by hand until nice and smooth.
   Place in a well-oiled bowl and cover with cling film or a damp cloth. Allow the dough to double in size.

4. Once the dough has doubled, take out all your anger and punch down the dough. Knead lightly on a well-floured surface and use a round cookie cutter about 8 cm in diameter to cut out your shapes. Dip your finger in flour and poke in the centre of the cut circle, move it around and around so a hole is formed.

5. Heat a good amount of oil for deep frying at 180'c/360'f. If you don't have a thermometer, throw a small piece of dough into the oil to see if it is ready. Place the dough onto a slotted spoon and carefully into the oil.

6. Fry the doughnuts on one side and then flip them over. They should be a nice golden colour. Take out the doughnuts and place onto a cooling rack and allow them to chill for a bit before dunking them in some chocolate glaze.

7. For the chocolate glaze, over a low heat, melt butter and whisk in cocoa, icing sugar and milk until smooth.

8. Allow to cool slightly. Dunk one side of the doughnuts into the velvety glaze, turn the right way up and place back on the cooling rack. Let the excess chocolate glaze drip down the sides and allow them to set slightly before dunking them in your very vanilla milkshake.

MILKSHAKE - serves 1!
A milkshake is a wonderful thing. It is so simple to make but you really can get it wrong by using artificially flavoured ingredients.

80g fresh full-fat milk
1/2 tsp good vanilla bean paste or extract (Use an artificial vanilla flavouring and you will regret it)
180g good vanilla ice cream

Blend together and pour into a chilled glass.

Manoush Bread

The Recipe

Makes: 9 pieces
Preparation: 15 minutes + 1 hour proofing
Baking Time: 5 minutes

Manoush bread comes from Lebanon and it is actually a type of pizza base which they smother on top a paste called za’tar; a Middle Eastern spice mixture containing dried herbs, sesame seeds, sumac, salt and other spices.

So I have stopped eating tacos..well, actually that was a long time ago. The novelty wore off about one month into me being here in Mexico! Don’t get me wrong, they are delicious little morsels and you cannot stop at one – however they are not too great when the fashion at the moment is all skinny jeans and you don’t have the money to buy bigger clothes : )

Any who, I have become addicted to this bread that I usually buy from the supermarket. I eat it like a quesadilla, stuffing it with cheese and chilli or even just a good slab of butter.

Today I decided to make the bread and save some money – it is actually a super easy recipe and you can make a big batch, freeze it and take a piece out each time you get a hunkering for some carbs.

Manoush bread comes from Lebanon and it is actually a type of pizza base which they smother on top a paste called za’tar; a Middle Eastern spice mixture containing dried herbs, sesame seeds, sumac, salt and other spices.

This recipe is a very plain version so it allows you to stuff it with cheese, jam, chocolate – or whatever your taste buds fancy.

INGREDIENTS

380g plain unbleached white flour (you can use wholemeal if your heart desires)
1 tsp of dried yeast
3/4 tsp fine sea salt
3/4 tsp fine sugar
3 tblsp good olive oil
200mls of luke warm water

METHOD

1. Throw in salt first, flour, yeast, sugar and olive oil. Make sure the salt doesn’t come in direct contact with the yeast as it will kill the bacteria which helps make the bread rise. Sugar is okay – yeast and sugar have a great relationship.

2. Mix these ingredients and then add the water, combine in the bowl and turn out onto a clean work surface and knead.

3. Knead for a good 10-15 minutes (it depends on how vigorously and efficiently you do it), until the dough is smooth and springs back when you push your finger into it.

4. Shape into a ball and place the dough in a well-oiled bowl covered with a damp tea cloth or a shower cap (preferably one that has not been used).

5. Allow rising for 1-1.5 hours, until the dough has doubled in size.

6. Heat the oven until it is about 220’C. Nice and hot – the perfect environment for quick bread baking.

7. Once it has risen, here’s the thing… I cheated on the second rising step and went straight to the baking part.
   

8. Pull apart dough into about 9 even pieces and roll out flat, until about 2mm thick

9. Place on a baking tray and sprinkle with sea salt and a sprinkle of olive oil before putting them in the oven to bake for about 5 minutes. Overcook them and you will end up with crispy bread chips, cook them perfectly and the bread texture will be lovely and soft.